Special AUDIO:
This talk explores how you can cultivate your relationship with the mystery.
You’ll learn how a rigorous, reality-based practice of non-judging awareness reveals the truth of things, the mental states that kill your relationship with mystery and the key awareness that can unlock the boundaries between you and Presence.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
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I’m savoring these mornings on the Potomac. Later sunrise means I now launch my paddle board before the light hits the water.
I start off with a windbreaker over a wool shirt and by the time I get up-river a half mile or so and the sun breaks out I can strip down.
Leaves are turning. The geese are forming back into gangs and the herons move a little slower in the cool weather.
I ordered a snow blower.
May your transition to the new season be filled with ease.
I had been in West Africa about four months and still sounded like a drunken three year old.
I'd studied Latin and French in high school and French in college. I had immersed myself in a three-month language immersion in the Peace Corps. I avoided other Americans and only listened to French on my radio. One month into my new position teaching phonetics at the University of Niamey, though, I still felt self-conscious speaking French.
I lived next to the Sureté Nationale, an office where travelers crossing the Sahara Desert had to check in when they came into the capitol city. I'd meet weary globetrotters and invite them to take a shower, camp out for the night and tell me stories of their adventures.
It was easy to invite folks to freely come and go as I had a spacious house and all I owned of any value were my hiking boots, a well-used typewriter and my beloved boom box which provided music and a radio.
One day I got home from teaching and the door to the house was wide open. All my things had been stolen. A few hours later two local fellows came by and offered to sell it all back to me.
The audacity of these jerks! I felt heat course through my body. My vision narrowed and and I almost became blind with rage.
It felt like a cork popped out of a champagne bottle and shaking, I launched into a abusive tirade.
I ripped into them. I swore. I spewed. All en français.
At some point in my venting I had a thought: "You're speaking the best French you've ever spoken in your life!"
I actually laughed out loud (then tried to cover it up by putting a cold stare back in my eyes).
But the jig was up. The storm of anger had passed.
There is a difference between being angry and being with your anger and that makes all the difference.
Emotions are like weather systems. Awareness, like the sky, is not angry, sad, anxious or depressed.
Mindfulness allows us to cultivate a capacity for self-awareness that can lead not only to more balance and creativity, but freedom itself.
You might enjoy these two talks from this last month:
Transforming Your Relationship with Anger
Transforming Your Relationship with Anxiety
I never saw my stuff again, but I got a good story out of it.
Three-day Meditation Retreat with Jonathan Foust, Tara Brach and Ruth King Learn More
Labor Day - No Class
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
The Energy Intensive at Kripalu Center Learn More
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
Morning glow at sunrise.
Prehistoric moment #1.
Prehistoric moment #2.
Early morning at the Stockbridge Bowl below Kripalu Center.
A sure sign of summer ending: The bugs are winning.
Another sign of summer ending: Last gasp of the morning moths.
Sometimes I paddle, sometimes I sit and think and sometimes I just sit.
This one is way cool. I happened to catch an amazing scene of the last swarm of moths on the Potomac with the rising sun behind. Enjoy!
September 24-27
I’m back at Kripalu Center for a long weekend for the Energy Intensive: Yoga, Meditation and Breathwork with my pal Shobhan Richard Faulds.
This is an immersion into techniques designed to raise both energy and awareness with some dramatic opportunities to let go of what’s between you and feeling free.
Shobhan and I go back to the early days of Kripalu. We’ve been offering this program for about 15 years and it’s a classic.
Way back in ‘00
For more information and to register:
A few years ago I was speaking at the end of a weeklong silent meditation retreat about transitioning from intensive practice back into the busyness of life. I’d been leading yoga throughout the week.
"I have a confession to make," I told the group. "I hate yoga."
Here’s a 90-second video on the topic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP8tL6E7xTM
Here's a two minute audio clip from the retreat:
http://imcw.org/Talks/TalkDetail/TalkID/329
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iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
A friend used to refer to Meditation Retreats as “Meditation Treats.”
We had a full house (sorry for those on the wait list) taking a deep dive into “A Meditative Journey,” including movement, deep relaxations and meditation techniques. I was both touched and inspired by the shared sparkle by the end of the day.
Transformative traditions speak of three elements that support an alive and vibrant life:
Practicing a technique called “Meditation OutLoud"
Cultivate a daily practice. Do you have a practice or some ritual that helps you slow down? It’s important to be realistic about what you can commit to. Even a few minutes can make a difference. Personally, I think it’s better to take five minutes per day to pause than it is to meditate on Sunday morning for half an hour.
Find like-minded people. This is difficult to create if you don’t have it, but quite important. Attend a weekly class, join a “spiritual friends” group or start one if you don’t have one local. Fine someone you know is interested in this and share your journey and insights.
Take time out for intensive practice. You may find that an intensive retreat may inform or inspire your daily practice. Having another retreat on the schedule can be enormously helpful. It’s like knowing you’ve got a life raft out there waiting for you.
:
A theme of our retreat was ‘restraint with awareness.” Our suggested restraints:
* Refrain from speaking. Watch the conversation inside.
* Refrain from eye contact. How intimately can you be with yourself?
* Refrain from electronic media. Is it possible to pull your attention to the moment-to-moment experience of here and now?
An intensive retreat not only helps pull you away from habitual activity, but it allows you to acquaint yourself intimately with what is present and cultivate your capacity to recognize what is actually happening in your life and perhaps find new ways to be with what is unfolding.
Special AUDIO:
This talk explores the relationship between meditation and intuition.
You’ll learn about the nature of the linear and non-linear mind, the most reliable form of intuition, steps you can take when intuition feels closed off and a guided meditation for decision-making.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
If you are called to drop in and explore new boundaries in relaxed awareness, this is the retreat for you.
August 29th
9:30 - 4:00
Bethesda, MD
You’ll explore practice in the context of Raja Yoga.
Mindful movement helps you contact and release deep-seated tension.
Breathing practices help you shift your internal state as well as induce calm and balance.
Guided relaxation open you more and more to a sense of effortless awareness.
Guided meditations help you gather your attention, let go into the here and now and open to presence.
Most of the day will be in silence and will include practices to help you turn within. There will be short periods of mindful sharing and time for questions and discussion.
This is one of my most favorite retreats to lead.
For more information and to register:
https://imcw.org/Calendar/EventId/85/e/daylong-a-meditative-journey-29-aug-2015
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Special AUDIO:
This talk explores how to work with anxiety.
You'll learn about different forms and signs of anxiety, the roots of chronic worry and some strategies for shifting your relationship with this pervasive state.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Special AUDIO:
This talk explores how to work with strong emotions, especially anger.
You’ll learn how anger happens, the cause of anger, some techniques for releasing anger and the practices and path that leads to increasing your capacity for freedom and happiness.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
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please signup here.
The World is One Family
After a lifetime dedicated to spiritual practice including being in silence for 19 years and 10 hours a day of meditation, Swami Kripalu summed it up his ultimate realization as the experience of "Sanatana Dharma."
Sanatana Dharma translates as 'eternal truth.' This is the truth we share regardless of our culture, language, race, gender, sexual identity or age.
"The world is one family," he said.
Despite this fundamental truth, our culture is struggling to find our commonality. In this month's missive you'll find some resources that may help you heal the divide.
May we find peace within and with each other.
In light of the recent events in Charleston, the controversy concerning the confederate flag and the surfacing of deeply entrenched discrimination, a request was made for dharma teachers to speak on the topic of healing racism. There are some powerful talks out there. If you are interested, here is a talk from Tara Brach Listen Here and heres a talk from Ruth King Listen Here, a dharma teacher who speaks and leads trainings on the need for healing in this area. I was reticent to speak as Im not that conversant in the latest approaches to white awareness and am not sure where one even begins when it comes to healing racism. The more I thought about my personal experience, though, as privileged as its been, the more sensitized I've become. I went to a Quaker high school. My sophomore year we got to choose our roommate. Gil and I were great friends and from different cultures. I was a white kid who grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania and he was African-American from South Philly by way of South Carolina. But our easy friendship made being roommates a simple choice. The bubble in which we lived, a culturally-diverse boarding school, fostered acceptance and ease. That bubble burst one day when Gil came back to the family farm with me for a weekend. We were handing around town on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Gil was in a store and while I was waiting for him outside I saw a friend walking down the street with whom I went to public school a few years earlier. He and I chatted for a bit, catching up. Gil came out of the store and walked up to us with a big smile. I started to introduce Gil. Before I could speak, my old classmates eyes narrowed. He glared at Gil, glared at me, turned and walked away without saying a word. I was stunned, hurt, embarrassed and angry. Gil shrugged it off and we went on, but something shifted in me that day. What stunned me was that I knew these guys could be friends. I knew both of them and liked them both. But that wasnt possible. My old classmate saw Gil as the enemy and by friendship and association, I was now an enemy as well. I have come to realize that Gil didnt just shrug it off. Just as untreated hatred poisons the heart of those who hate, those on the receiving end internalize that vitriol. Healing this division is our shared work. Follow this link to listen to the talk, "The World is One Family: Healing Racism and Discrimination."
Conscious Relationships (with Tara Brach) Learn More
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
The Still, Small Voice: Meditation, Focusing and Intuition Training Learn More
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
A Meditative Journey: Mindful Movement, Meditation and Deep Relaxation Learn More
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
The will to live. A tree clings to the side of a small island on the Potomac River.
Flying into Provincetown. (It happened to be Bear Week.) www.ptownbears.org
Bouys and Gulls. A distant storm churns the Atlantic.
Speaking of buoys and gulls, we celebrated a bay-side marriage proposal (and acceptance).
Morning shoot.
Low low low low tide.
Hauling off a snack.
The first signs of Fall. Back on the river, grasses begin to turn.
Here’s another "Five Breaths / Five Scenes" video for you, this time featuring Low Tide.
August 29
Insight Meditation Community of Washington (IMCW)
A daylong retreat in the DC Metro area.
Why did the Buddha emphasize mindfulness of the body as the primary foundation of practice?
The body lives only in the here and now. As you train your attention to rest in your senses you learn how to be present to whatever arises.
You can’t make a state of inner quiet happen, but you can create an optimal environment through conscious movement and breathing.
Through the day you’ll learn movement sequences that help to release deep-seated tension and help to draw your awareness inward. Two deep guided body scan experiences help to cultivate a sense of ease and integration.
No prior experience of yoga or meditation is required. If you do have extensive experience, you’ll find the guidance spacious and inviting.
Come and explore relaxation as a doorway to presence.
Visit: https://imcw.org/Calendar/EventId/85/e/daylong-a-meditative-journey-29-aug-2015
Swami Satchitananda on what it was like to be a Hindu..."I don’t think I’m a Hindu," he said. "I think I'm an Undo." I don't think of myself as a Buddhist, but simply as someone seeking freedom. While these links refer to those who identify as Buddhist, nonetheless, you may find them helpful as you look for resources that may help you bring more awareness to the issue of healing racism and discrimination. An Open Letter to Dharma Teachers http://buddhistsforracialjustice.org/an-open-letter/ An Call to White Buddhists http://buddhistsforracialjustice.org/call-to-white-buddhists/ A Call to People of Color Buddhists http://buddhistsforracialjustice.org/call-to-poc-buddhists/ Shared Resources http://buddhistsforracialjustice.org/shared-resources/
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please signup here.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Now that we’re past the summer solstice, the sun rises noticeably later and I’m on the river before the light gets strong.
This morning I was out on my kayak and snuck up on a flock of cormorants. As I floated by I was concerned there wasn’t enough sun. I love how the low morning light caught the only strong color in the image: their beaks.
Cormorants are strange creatures. I’m getting to know their habits, particularly as they seem to be in greater numbers these last years. They have a dramatic way of taking off, running along the water as they gain lift off.
They dry their wings by holding them open to the air. It’s not uncommon to see them at first light going through their routines. In the image below this was the first time I noticed them drying their wings while simultaneously squabbling. Quite the exotic dance.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Special AUDIO:
This talk explores how you can cultivate steadiness and equanimity in your life.
You’ll learn the story behind the Buddha’s discovery of the ‘middle way,’ how to balance effort and non-effort, the cosmic balance of energy and awareness as well the cultivation of the fruit of spiritual practice: your capacity to be balanced and at ease no matter what arises internally or externally.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Special AUDIO:
This talk explores listening as a spiritual practice.
You’ll learn about the painful consequences of not listening, how empathic listening to others opens up unimagined possibilities, the importance of listening to yourself and how the practice of listening leads to liberation.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Well, not chickens, but Great Blue Herons.
It seems the Great Blues congregate at night and then disperse during the day and stake out their hunting territory. I was out early enough this morning to mingle with them before they went off to work.
As we have a rookery just downstream, it’s hard to be out of sight of a Great Blue or egret in these summer months.
Here are a few photos of the Great Blues as I gently herded them upriver while on my paddleboard.
A grand-daddy Heron books it upriver.
Where’s Waldo?
Profiles.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Special AUDIO:
This talk explores how we can live with a wise heart in a world filled with turmoil.
You’ll learn how recognizing delusion and ignorance is critical to waking up, how delusion forms and persists and how we can heal and restore a sense of our shared humanity.
This talk is part of a series of talks given by teachers around the planet, speaking to how we can heal racism and discrimination.
There are some wonderful talks out there on this topic from teachers such as Tara Brach http://imcw.org/Talks/TalkDetail/TalkID/812, Ruth King http://imcw.org/Talks/TalkDetail/TalkID/760 and others.
This is my very personal take on the topic.
Read here for more on a “Call to White Buddhists” http://buddhistsforracialjustice.org/call-to-white-buddhists/
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
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please signup here.
After a few full days of intense focus in a program room at Kripalu Center, I headed to the lake with my paddleboard for an afternoon adventure.
Under clear skies I paddled for about 45 minutes straight into a lively wind toward the center of Lake Mahkeenac. Within what seemed like minutes, I was enveloped in a massive set of dark clouds.
Could I make it to shore before I got hit with rain and wind? The race was on.
I lost.
When I realized was destined to get soaked, I remembered that it’s summer, it was 80 degrees and all was truly well. The drenching felt refreshing, actually, and pretty quickly the atmospheric drama ended and the skies cleared again.
No matter what weather systems are passing through in your world, I hope you enjoy your adventures.
What are your plans for tonight? Answering that question may determine your destiny. I’ve developed a template for my dharma talks over the years. My outline begins with three questions: "Why is this topic important?" "If this was my last talk, what do I most want to say?" "How do I want people to feel at the end of this talk?" These questions help me tap into my passion and emotion. They also help me focus on the most important points and how to most effectively share them. They set the course for my talk. The clarity of your intention has direct impact on the outcome of your life. Your intention informs your habits and actions, which shape your destiny. I have found it to be be immensely helpful to reflect not just to reflect on my long-term intentions, but also on my short-term aspirations. To listen to a recent talk entitled "How you Inherit and Create Your Karma" click here.
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
Conscious Relationships (with Tara Brach) Learn More
A gang of cormorants on the move.
Stillness above the Great Falls.
Clouds and sky merge.
Heron skimming the tree tops.
Taking meditation and asana out into the world. Graduates of “Guiding Meditation for Transformational Yoga Teaching” at Kripalu Center.
Here’s another "Five Breaths / Five Scenes" video for you, this time featuring Waterbugs.
August 16–21, 2015 Sunday–Friday 5 nights Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health Have you had a 'sense' that something wasn't going to work out but you did it anyway?
I often ask people who've gone through a break up in a relationship when they 'knew' it wasn't going to work out. Oftentimes people say, "I knew in the beginning." On the other hand, have there been times when you followed your gut, took a leap and found yourself in unexpected, wonderful adventures?
How do you discern the difference between 'the still, small voice' of your intuition versus the 60,000 thoughts that pass through your consciousness each day?
This is our exclusive focus in this five-day residential retreat at Kripalu Center.
Intuition arises through the visual, auditory and kinesthetic channels. (Sometimes - rarely - you might experience what is called "direct cognition," a sense of just, somehow, "knowing".)
You can develop each of these pathways, but the most reliable and perhaps most challenging faculty to develop is the kinesthetic - the gut feel or the "felt sense."
Meditation training develops your capacity to see clearly. Your sense of the interconnectedness of mind and body become more refined.
Meditation and 'felt sense' inquiry draw on the questions you ask yourself and paying intimate attention to what arises in the body and mind.
The process can be nothing short of amazing when it comes to problem solving, making important decisions in your life, healing whatever is between you and feeling free and investigating your deepest life questions.
I've had a long-time fascination with the nexus between meditation and intuition and love sharing these techniques, especially at Kripalu Center over five days, where you can immerse yourself in such a supportive and nurturing environment.
You'll learn skills that will enhance your meditation practice as well as support you in navigating through life's inevitable challenges.
To learn more, please visit: https://kripalu.org/presenter/V0000107/
This course draws on my 6.6 hour audio course through Sounds True, called Body-Centered Inquiry: Meditation Training to Awaken Your Inner Guidance, Vitally and a Loving Heart.
In this post, I list a few of my favorite apps that support mindfulness, http://jonathanfoust.com/a-few-apps-that-support-mindfulness
I am what you would call an "early adapter."
Pretty soon after it came out, I was writing copy on a Tandy TRS 80 (with the huge floppy disks). I was among the first with a PalmPilot, a laptop and an iPhone. I made the switch over to a micro four thirds camera system (the Panasonic GH4) and have been known to download the beta version of new software. I’m healing my geek impulses, but I’ve been a junky with Cool Tools and Kickstarter.
(If you are interested, here’s my Cool Tools write up on the Kawasaki KLR650.)
So I am pretty fast on the draw when it comes to trying a new app for the iPhone or iPad that might streamline my flow or aid in meditation.
Here’s to better living with technology!
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iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Special AUDIO:
This talk reveals the best technique for awakening heart and mind.
You’ll learn about techniques that awaken your capacity for sustained present-moment awareness, techniques for cultivating awareness of change, techniques for purifying the heart and techniques for opening to the mystery. And at the end, the best technique of all.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
